1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing device and method thereof, and a computer program product.
2. Description of the Related Art
Printing of locally stored image data such as those created by an application, online image data, and the like requires a printer driver that is compatible with a printer used to print the image data. Such printing also requires setting up a port using a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) for transmitting print data generated by the printer driver to the printer.
In recent years, people often carry a mobile personal computer (PC) with them for outside use. When a need for printing arises at an outside location, they are necessitated to use a printer available on the spot. It is, however, not likely that a printing environment has already been established on their mobile PC to perform printing on the outside printer.
Meanwhile, for, example, some recent printer drivers such as a BMLinkS (registered trademark) printer driver are less machine-dependent. Thus, if the outside printer is compatible with such a printer driver, printing is possible using the printer driver installed on their own mobile PC.
Additionally, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-246620 discloses a technology in which a printer for a print job is selected based on a first image forming condition providable by a plurality of printers and a second image forming condition set by a user.
However, even when a mobile PC includes a printer driver corresponding to a printer at an outside location, it is still necessary to set up a port. Accordingly, a troublesome task remains for a user.
Setting up a port often requires an IP address of a printer. The IP address can be acquired by directly operating a console of the printer. However, due to increasing security concerns, many more recent printers require log-in information for operation or knowledge of a special operation for acquiring the IP address thereof.
Although such printer information may be acquired through a network available outside, a user needs to install special software in advance or preregister various information in a domain of the outside location to use the outside network.
Consequently, even for a small amount of printing, the user has to establish a printing environment for the job. This results in inconvenience to the user.